Spiritual and Bodily Freedom
The notion of Christian liberty is essential for the understanding of the Reformed concept of the law. Early modern protestant theology, however, made a sharp distinction between spiritual and bodily liberty. This distinction originated from Luther’s concept of the two kingdoms. It enabled John Calv...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Journal of reformed theology
Year: 2015, Volume: 9, Issue: 2, Pages: 148-165 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBD Benelux countries KBK Europe (East) NBE Anthropology |
| Further subjects: | B
John Calvin
Institutes
William Perkins
Synopsis of Purer Theology
Spiritual liberty
Bodily liberty
Hungarian students in the Netherlands
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| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The notion of Christian liberty is essential for the understanding of the Reformed concept of the law. Early modern protestant theology, however, made a sharp distinction between spiritual and bodily liberty. This distinction originated from Luther’s concept of the two kingdoms. It enabled John Calvin to criticize the church for binding the consciences and at the same time appeal to the civil government for reform of the church. Because of the reshuffling of the Institutes in 1559 this function of Christian liberty is easily lost out of sight. In the further development of Reformed theology the distinction between spiritual and bodily liberty was applied to the Christian life of individual believers, as the examples of William Perkins and the Leiden Synopsis of Purer Theology show. Thus the reforming power of the distinction was lost and it was used to confirm the political and social status quo instead. |
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| ISSN: | 1569-7312 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of reformed theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15697312-00902013 |